1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to a sliding roof cover for selectively closing or at least partially opening a roof opening in a motor vehicle roof, the cover being movably supported by a bearing mechanism on longitudinal guides which are located on either side of the roof opening. Further, the present invention is directed to a motor vehicle roof with a roof opening and at least two movable sliding roof covers for selectively closing or at least partially opening the roof opening, the covers being movably supported by a bearing mechanism on longitudinal guides located on both sides of the roof opening.
2. Description of Related Art
German Patent DE 30 38 353 C2 discloses a sliding roof arrangement for a motor vehicle roof in which a sliding roof cover in its forward area is supported by means of a slide block which is movably supported on a roof-mounted longitudinal guide. The guide pin of the slide block is movably held in a curved guide path which is made on the cover carrier. When the slide block is moved relative to the cover, the front area of the cover is raised or lowered. A vertical guide for the engagement part of the cover is movably supported on the longitudinal guide and can be fixed to it. The rear area of the cover can be raised or lowered via a lever arrangement which is guided in a linear guide path on the cover or is supported around a pivot.
A primary object of the present invention is to devise the initially-mentioned sliding roof cover with a bearing mechanism which is simplified and improved, and to devise a motor vehicle roof with at least two movable sliding roof covers which can at least partially open or close the roof opening in an improved sequence of motion.
This object is achieved by providing a sliding roof cover with the cover being movably supported by a bearing mechanism on longitudinally-extending guides which are located on either side of the roof opening, characterized in that the lateral bearing mechanism has a crank arrangement which is movable relative to the cover for raising or lowering the cover, and a vertical guide on the roof-mounted longitudinal guide assigned to the front or rear edge of the cover, whereby the cover guide element of the cover is supported for vertical movement.
The above object of the invention is further achieved in providing a motor vehicle roof with at least two movable sliding roof covers for selectively closing or at least partially opening a roof opening, the covers being movably supported by a bearing mechanism on longitudinally-extending guides located on either side of the roof opening, wherein at least one of the covers can be vertically lowered from a closed position and one section of the roof opening can be cleared by moving the lowered cover or the other cover into a stacked arrangement.
Due to the lateral bearing mechanism with the crank arrangement and the vertical guide, a mechanism is made available which reliably guides the cover on a vertical path without play and without movement in the horizontal direction, the mechanism having few moving parts. In this way, very narrow gaps between the cover and the rigid roof cover can be adjusted.
Preferably, a vertical guide carriage which contains the vertical guide and a bearing carriage which contains the crank arrangement are movably supported on the longitudinal guide, the bearing carriage being connected especially to a drive mechanism such as a drive cable. The drive cable is, for example, integrated on the longitudinal guide and is moved by a drive mechanism such as an electric drive motor located in front of or behind the roof opening.
Feasibly, the present invention may include a locking mechanism which keeps the vertical guide carriage for vertical guidance of the cover locked on the longitudinal guide and when the cover is lowered cancels the locking of the vertical guide carriage and couples it to the bearing carriage in order to enable their joint displacement. Thus, the locking mechanism provides for the required fixing of the vertical guide in the horizontal direction and in the closed position of the cover and also during lowering or raising. To move the cover, the locking mechanism releases the vertical guide carriage and couples it to the bearing carriage so that only this bearing carriage need be driven via the drive cable. Preferably, the locking mechanism is a locking block mechanism with a locking function which is activated by moving the bearing carriage.
In one preferred embodiment, the crank arrangement has a front and a rear guide path wherein each guide path has an upper section which is assigned to the closed position of the cover, a transition section which is tilted relative to the cover, and a lower section which is assigned to the lowered position of the cover. Engagement elements of the cover, thus, slide continuously in the guide paths so that for rounded transitions between the individual path sections a low-wear motion sequence without impact is possible.
When the front and the rear guide path are made essentially identical, the cover can be lowered and raised by an identical support arrangement in the guide paths in an alignment parallel to the longitudinal guide. On the other hand, the front and the rear guide path can also have upper and lower horizontal sections of unequal length so that the cover can be lowered by a dissimilar support arrangement in the guide paths into a tilted position and then into an alignment which is parallel to the longitudinal guide. In another embodiment, the cover is guided via fixed cover carriers on the guide paths.
According to another embodiment in accordance with the present invention, the cover is guided via one pivoting lever on the front and the rear guide path, each pivoting lever on the one hand being supported to be able to pivot on the cover in a pivot hinge and on the other hand being supported to pivot and move on the longitudinal guide of the vertical guide carriage or of the bearing carriage and one guide element of the pivoting lever being guided in the respective guide path. The combination of the guide path with the pivoting lever can yield a large lifting path with a small construction height in the lowered position of the cover.
Since the motor vehicle roof in accordance with the present invention has at least one of cover capable of being vertically lowered from its closed position and one section of the roof opening can be cleared by moving the lowered cover or the other cover into a stacked arrangement, great variability is achieved when the open positions of the motor vehicle roof are adjusted. In the stacked arrangement the two covers are located congruently on top of one another or are also partially shifted against one another.
Preferably, the motor vehicle roof contains three sliding roof covers, of which one cover can be moved in the roof opening without vertical lowering and the other two covers can be lowered vertically into different vertical positions so that at least two covers can be moved on top of one another into a stacked arrangement.
Another embodiment of the motor vehicle roof in accordance with the present invention calls for the front cover to have a vertical guide in the area of its front edge, for the middle cover to be movable in a fixed vertical position and for the rear cover to have a vertical guide in the area of its rear edge.